Amelia Earhart/Transcript
Transcript Tim and Moby are sitting on a picnic blanket and Moby is eating a hot dog. TIM: You want to put mayonnaise on your hot dog? Uh, OK, be my guest. Tim holds up the mayonnaise and a helicopter comes by and swipes it from him. TIM: Whoa! What the heck was that? Tim looks through binoculars and sees Cassie and Rita flying in a prop plane. Rita is holding the mayonnaise. TIM: Was that Cassie and Rita? The helicopter comes by and Rita takes the binoculars and drops a letter. TIM: Not funny! Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, can you tell me about Amelia Earhart? From, Angela (Yokohama, Japan). Thanks for the question. But next time, please just mail it to us. An animation shows Amelia Earhart, with her cropped hair and flight suit, in front of her plane. TIM: Anyway, Amelia Earhart was a famous aviator, or airplane pilot, during the first half of the twentieth century. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, back then, women were often thought of as homemakers, not much else. But Amelia Earhart dedicated her life to proving that women could do anything that men could! An image shows Amelia Earhart while a map of the United States zooms in on Atchison, Kansas. TIM: She was born in Atchison, Kansas, in 1897. An animation shows a tree, a beetle, and a rat. TIM: As a child she loved climbing trees, collecting bugs, and hunting rats with a rifle. She was known for her fearlessness! After taking a brief airplane trip as a young woman, she decided that flying was her destiny. An animation shows a yellow propeller plane, “the canary,” with two pilots. TIM: She bought a bright yellow biplane and started taking lessons. An image shows the plane flying. TIM: In 1922, Earhart flew to a height of 14,000 feet, setting a world record for female pilots! An animation shows a transport pilot’s license from the United States Department of Commerce. TIM: A year later, she became only the sixteenth woman in the world to get her pilot’s license. MOBY: Beep. TIM: I’m glad you asked, Moby. Amelia Earhart lived during what’s called the golden age of aviation. Aircraft technology was improving fast, new records were constantly being set! But flying wasn’t like it is today. An animation shows a commercial jet flying. TIM: The big passenger planes we’re all familiar with hadn’t been invented yet, and flying was still pretty dangerous! An animation shows a red skull and cross bones with wings. TIM: As a result, pilots were viewed as courageous, death-defying heroes. An animation shows Charles Lindbergh in a flight suit in front of his plane. TIM: So when Charles Lindbergh made his first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, he instantly became one of the most famous people in the world! MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, like I said, there was a common misconception at the time that women were too delicate for this kind of adventure, but Earhart proved them all wrong. An animation shows the globe and a plane flying across the Atlantic Ocean. TIM: A year after Lindbergh’s flight, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean! Although she was only a passenger, she was given a ticker tape parade and a reception at the White House when she returned to America. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, Amelia wasn’t content with her feat, she wanted to do something even more special, so in 1932 she flew across the Atlantic again, this time all by herself! An animation shows Amelia Earhart standing in front of her plane while crowds of supporters wave. TIM: She was the first person after Lindbergh to do this, and it made her one of the most famous women in the world. But she didn’t stop there. Earhart wrote two books about her adventures, traveled the country delivering lectures and helped found an organization for female pilots! They were called the Ninety-Nines. Animations show a book, a podium, and the logo for the Ninety-Nines. TIM: She was named vice president of the National Aeronautic Association and joined the faculty of Perdue University. The top half of an image shows NAA wings. The bottom half shows a flag from Purdue University. TIM: She even helped design and endorse her own line of women’s clothing! And she kept setting records in her plane! An image shows Amelia in a sophisticated-looking white dress with black spots. A plane flies across the United States from East to West, from West to East, from Hawaii to California, and then from Mexico to the East Coast. TIM: She became the first woman to make a round-trip solo flight across the United States, the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California, the first person to fly solo from Mexico City to the East Coast. MOBY: Beep. TIM: OK, OK, you get the idea. Anyway, in 1937 Earhart embarked on her most daring mission yet. She decided to fly around the entire globe along the equator! Unfortunately, she didn’t make it. A plane flies halfway across the globe and then disappears. TIM: On July 2nd, after she’d already gone three-quarters of the way around, her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. MOBY: Beep. An animation shows a U.S. aircraft carrier cruising in the ocean while a propeller plane flies above it. TIM: Well, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard spent weeks looking for any sign of her plane, but they couldn’t find a thing. No one knows for sure what happened to her, but most people believe she ran out of fuel, crashed, and died. Still, Amelia Earhart will always be remembered for being a true pioneer! While Tim and Moby talk, a red plane flies right over their heads, and they duck just in time. TIM: Aagh! Category:BrainPOP Transcripts